January 19, 2009

Brain Lock

The last few days of break have seen me trying to prepare for interviews and basically chilling out. During that time, I’d assume my mind would be running amuck with thoughts on all kinds of topics, but not much has really been coming. Which is incredibly odd given that while I’m working, there is a ridiculous amount of things running through my mind that warrant some attention. Yet during the small hiatus from any real responsibility the well has somewhat run dry. It makes me think that the real good ideas come while your mind is busy working on something, nay, anything else. Sometimes ideas will come while working on a specific subject, but just last week I was working on a new logo design and it was like pulling teeth because it was the only thing to do. Yet when I’m busy on other things, my mind has time to breathe and take other things into consideration.

This gets back to the idea of fresh eyes. Fresh eyes are really important for businesses and ideas of all sorts. It’s too easy to get caught up in the weeds while you are on one particular piece of a business or project. Just today I met with my former boss and CEO of the first company I worked for. He has a really amazing idea that we talked a lot about before I left and it truly has the potential to revolutionize his business. I’d go so far as to say it could potentially disrupt the industry. I have a fresh set of eyes for it and still really think it has legs; to me that’s very important.

A few friends of mine were talking a few nights ago about how when you work for a company you drink the Kool Aid and do things that you normally might not subscribe to or agree with ideas you normally might not. It’s not as if you are being submissive to the powers that be, more that you are part of the organization and are subject to losing a truthful perspective. Your perspective becomes skewed; there may not be a lot you can do about it, but you can be cognizant of it.

The idea of biases really intrigues me. Go down that list and “Corporate Bias” (no real definition behind it though) is listed as bias toward a corporation. This list of cognitive biases may be the most important decision making tool anyone could ever have. We make so many decisions involving some sort of bias. I think I should catalog all of them, maybe I’ll do that some time in the future.